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gamescom, the world’s largest trade fair for video games, is returning to Cologne from August 21 to 25. Through the “Road to gamescom” program, Gamecity Hamburg enables five indie studios from Hamburg to participate in the Indie Arena Booth, the largest joint booth of game developers worldwide. The start-ups will present their games to numerous gamescom visitors as well as potential business partners and the press. Other companies from Hamburg will be at gamescom to showcase projects and hold business meetings.
“With our ‘Road to’ program, we bring indie studios to relevant games events and prepare them to meet publishers, make contacts, and present their games to consumers. Our joint stand at the Indie Arena Booth enables us to achieve all these goals at gamescom”, says Dennis Schoubye, Head of Gamecity Hamburg. The joint booth of Gamecity Hamburg will present five promising projects from Hamburg at the Indie Arena Booth in Hall 10.2, F010g – E019.
These five studios will present their games at the Indie Arena Booth:
Godcomplex Games – Stack ‘Em Up
Godcomplex Games completed the Games Lift Incubator 2022 and received prototype funding for their game in 2023. Stack ‘Em Up is an exciting online and offline multiplayer player party game for up to four players. They absorb slimes with unique abilities, which they can creatively combine and stack to collect points and eliminate opponents in fast-paced battles.
Markus Koepke – Journey Beyond the Edge of the World
Journey Beyond is an immersive first-person adventure set on an abandoned fishing trawler in the middle of the North Sea. Players explore the ship and its mysterious history, which is revealed through puzzles, radio recordings, and atmospheric music. Markus Koepke has successfully completed the Gamecity Hamburg Games Lift Incubator 2023.
Pipapo Games – Map Map – A Game About Maps
Pipapo Games completed the HAW Games Master, further developed their game in the Games Lift Incubator 2023 and received Gamecity Hamburg prototype funding in 2024. In the cozy exploration game Map Map – A Game About Maps, players slip into the role of adventure-hungry cartographers who explore and map the surroundings on unknown islands full of secrets and thus get closer to the trail of a buried treasure.
Slime King Games – Under the Island
Under the Island delivers fantastic graphics and presents a profound adventure story in the RPG genre. After moving to Seashell Island, the protagonist, Nia, must save her home from sinking, together with new friends. Solve puzzles, fight monsters, explore the map: Under the Island offers well-made old-school RPG classics and combines them with renewed ideas and a great soundtrack by Miyoko Takaoka (Sonic, Terranigma and others).
Sven Ahlgrimm & Mathilde Hoffmann – ODDADA
ODDADA is a music construction kit game. Players create their own musical landscapes: machines and buildings become instruments that play new compositions at different levels. The developer duo Ahlgrimm and Hoffmann are from Berlin/Hamburg. Hamburg native Mathilde Hoffmann has been a successful sound designer and composer for games for many years (including Unrailed, Deep Space Gardening, Closer the Distance, and many more), while Sven Ahlgrimm is an experienced programmer, artist, and game creator.
Three of the five projects presented received funding from Gamecity Hamburg, including participation in the Games Lift Incubator and the receipt of prototype funding.
Companies from Hamburg at gamescom 2024
Other companies from the Hamburg games industry will be on-site at gamescom 2024 to present their new games or to initiate new business partnerships. Some examples:
Osmotic Studios will be showing their narrative slice-of-life adventure game Closer the Distance, which will be released on August 2, 2024, for PC, Playstation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. A demo will be playable at the Indie Arena Booth.
Mooneye Studios will be represented as part of the Home of Indies in Hall 10.2 with the games Smushi Come Home, Farewell North, and Lost Ember.
InnoGames GmbH will be available for press and business contacts for individual appointments.
Bigpoint GmbH will be available in the B2B area for business contacts and press appointments.
Daedalic Entertainment will be available for talks in the B2B area, and they will be presenting the cozy puzzle game Woodo in the indie area in the B2C area.
In addition, the Hamburg gaming internet channel Rocket Beans TV will accompany gamescom with numerous live broadcasts.
Gamecity Hamburg supports the Hamburg games industry and the diversity in the industry
In addition to programs such as “Road to gamescom”, the Gamecity Hamburg initiative, which is financed by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, supports the regional games industry with other tailor-made funding programs: In the Games Lift Incubator, game developers and founders receive one year of intensive coaching and mentoring from international industry experts in addition to financial support. With prototype funding, Gamecity Hamburg also supports the development of game prototypes in Hamburg with up to 80,000 euros per project. In 2024, Gamecity Hamburg introduced a mandatory diversity checklist for all applicants of the funding programs, which actively contributes to more diversity in teams and projects.
